Dancing Star
by Jaelijn
Summary: A TARDIS malfunction drops the Doctor and Donna on Tortuga Beach with no idea where they are and what just happened. Then Donna runs into a certain Captain Jack Sparrow and soon enough, they get involved in the mystery of disappearing ships and the great secret that lies at the very heart of the Bermuda Triangle...
1. ONE

**A/N: **Welcome! As you will probably have gathered, this is a Doctor Who / Pirates of the Caribbean Crossover. However, it is written more or less entirely out of the perspective of the Doctor and Donna, so all you really have to know about PotC is that it is about pirates - above all about Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) - who have seen their fair share of supernatural/mythological creatures (ghosts, a leviathan...). I hope I have done the characters justice.

In terms of chronology, it is set in series 4 of New Who and after the fourth PotC film - so, spoilers!

Anyway, without further ado: Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

Doctor Who et al © BBC. The Doctor's Tenth incarnation especially shaped by Mr Russell T. Davies and Mr David Tennant. Donna thanks to Catherine Tate.

Pirates of the Caribbean et al © Disney.

No infringement intended. This is a work of a fan for fans. No money is made of it. All credit for creating these wonderful characters I only play with go to the original creators.

* * *

**Dancing Star**

by Jaelijn

...~oOo~...

_"You must carry a chaos inside you to give birth to a dancing star."_

– Friedrich Nietzsche

...~oOo~...

* * *

**~ONE~**

The sea was calm that night. There was a soft breeze – not enough to disturb the gentle splashing of the waves against the fine sand on the beach. The breeze carried a salty odour and the less pleasant smell of canon fire – only it wasn't canon fire.

The fireworks illuminated the night over Tortuga with brilliant, colourful sparks, their sharp sizzling cutting through the night. If the sea was calm that night, the air was far from quiet. Shouts and laughter rang through the night, drunken calls of men and the peeling laughter of women, both of honourable and less honourable nature. Amidst the song and the laughter no one paid any attention to the strange commotion a little further down the beach, not far from the harbour.

In the darkness, where the waves were washing gently to the shore, a stray dog emerged from the undergrowth, his ears twisting as yet more fireworks exploded in the sky. The dog was looking for the spoils the sea might have brought ashore, or whatever the seagulls had left.

It padded across the wet sand, leaving its trail in the shimmering moonlight, and all the while sniffing for something to eat. It stumbled upon a wet human body lying prone on the beach. The body was not moving, the waves toying with the edges of the long coat the human wore.

The dog sniffed cautiously. The human did not smell of rum, or decay, only of water and salt. But experience had taught the dog well, and it knew that salt could easily conceal decay in a body that sea had only recently released. This was a fresh corpse, or the seagulls would already have devoured it.

Stomach rumbling, the dog stalked closed. The moonlight flickered briefly over its emaciated body, the pointy rips and torn fur. It had been a meagre time, with barely a morsel to eat for several days, and such a meal would last a while. The dog dug its nose eagerly into the drenched hair of the human-

- and gave a small yelp when, suddenly, with a groan, the corpse moved and flopped to its side.

Not a corpse, then. The dog jumped away from the aimlessly waving arm and gave a short bark to shoo it away before darting off into the undergrowth, where it shot one last glance at the body. What a pity. It was skinny enough, but would have made a good meal, nevertheless. Perhaps, if the dog came back in a few hours, it would get its share after all.

Meanwhile, the human had rolled back onto his back, one arm lying limply on his stomach, the other outstretched on the sand – only, he wasn't human. The twin hearts picked up a beat when the Doctor finally forced open his eyes. No TARDIS. That was bad. Bad, very bad.

First things first. The Doctor stared at the star-spangled sky above him. It looked like Earth. Felt like Earth, smelled like Earth, sounded like Earth, too. Pretty good chances, then, that it was Earth. The Doctor considered it a safe assumption, and left it at that.

He allowed himself to stay still for a moment, focussing his attention inward. He dragged a huge gulp of salty air into his lungs. Both hearts were beating, which was good, and he felt no pain, although he was still a bit groggy, not quite thinking clearly. He could feel no glaring difference as he ran his tongue over his teeth. No regeneration, then? How odd. It would have explained the confusion, and perhaps why the TARDIS had spat him out – if the last regeneration was any clue, he could easily blow it up this time...

The Doctor raised himself onto his elbows and glanced down to his feet. All looked fine – same old pinstriped suit, same old plimsolls, same old coat. "Oh, my coat!"

The Doctor tugged at the fabric and pouted a bit. The edges were frayed and sobbing wet with salt water. "Janis Choplin gave me that coat...", he said to no one in particular, then pulled his legs away from the waves and under him, trying to remember.

He had only just left the Library with Donna, which would account for the fact that he felt slightly sad – dear River... She really should have allowed him to do what needed to be done, but at least he had been able to save her. Still, there was so much he wanted to ask her – anyway, something to look forward to. Donna had had the more confusing experience. She had honestly thought she'd found her perfect man... Blimey, Donna!

The Doctor scrambled to his feet and spun round in a circle. "Donna!" No TARDIS as far as he could see, and no Donna. Very bad. "Donna!?" A beach illuminated by moonlight, a forest on its rim, and a village not far of – no Donna. "DONNA!" The Doctor walked off into the direction of the buildings.


	2. TWO

**A/N: **And chapter two, since the first one is so short ;).

* * *

**~TWO~**

Donna woke to a hand shaking her by the shoulder. "Uh, budge off, Doctor!" The shaking continued. She slapped at him as she would at an annoying fly. "Get off, spaceman! You might not need to sleep, but I'm happy with my eight hours each night, thank you!"  
He just wouldn't leave her alone! Donna snapped her eyes open and turned around to tell him just what she thought of that kind of behaviour – the Doctor wasn't there. Kneeling before her in the gloomy light was a stranger, and a man! "Oi! Get off! Who do you think you are?!" Donna slapped him in the face, then scrambled away from the man over the slightly wet wooden floor.

"I did not deserve that", the man murmured, not really making sense. He had horrible hair, horrible clothes and smelled horribly.

This was definitely not the TARDIS, or at least it wasn't the room Donna had fallen asleep in. What the hell had happened, and what had happened to the Doctor? "Where", she demanded, "is the Doctor?"

To her horror, the stranger jumped forward and clapped a dirty, stinking hand loaded with cheep rings over her mouth. "Shhh!"

Donna bit him for his trouble, even though the taste was appalling. "Don't you hush me! Get off! What have you done to the Doctor?! And who are you, anyway?"

The man shifted away from her. "Blimey, that's what ye get for tryin' t' help... I don't care how much you've had, Missy, but _I _am about to commandeer meself that ship there, an' figuring it might get a bit loud round here I thought I'd better show you off."

"Don't think that pirate-y talk works with me, mate. And don't you dare calling me 'missy' ever again." Donna rose to her feet, her back to the rotten wall of the hut – a boat hut, if she wasn't much mistaken, with one side opening to the beach, and two small boats resting on the wooden floor beside her.

The stranger rose, as well, and in the soft light Donna could only just make out the ridiculous beard, the equally ridiculous hat and the strange position in which he held himself, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of a sword.

"What kind of freak are you? No, wait, I know – you're an alien. I demand to know which planet we are on! And what have you done with the Doctor!"  
The stranger threw a look over his shoulder, as if he expected someone barging in on them at every moment. "I have no idea what you're on about, deary. You are in Tortuga, and if I were you, I'd find meself a nice corner to sleep it off."

"I am NOT drunk!" Donna stalked forward to stand directly in front of him. She could even smell the horrid odour coming out of his mouth, lips twisted to a shoddy grin and showing of golden teeth Donna was _sure_ weren't real. "That makes you Tortugans, then, yeah? Well, mate, you will tell me exactly what I want to know, right now, and no more nonsense. Where. Is. The. Doctor?!" She poked his chest with every word. "What have you done to him, and the TARDIS, and what do you want with me?"

"Jack? Any problems?" A second man peered in through the door in the hut – why it would need a door when the fourth wall was missing entirely Donna did not bother to think about. The appearance of the older, heavier, grey guy in the same stupid dress code made it all clear to her. "He's been standing watch, yeah? So you could do... something to me, yeah! Well, think again, Tortugar, 'cause it went wrong, and now you will answer my question. WHERE IS THE DOCTOR?"

Both men flinched at her shout, looking like two rabbits caught in the headlights.

The first one, Jack, recovered his wits quicker. "Gibbs, the ship, make her ready."

The other, Gibbs, nodded, and hurried over to one of the boats, pushing her out into the open air. Jack stayed with Donna, offering her a hand with a grin. "Never heard of your Doctor, deary, but I recommend you see one", he tipped his temple, " something's not right up there. Anyway, good luck, and good bye!" He turned away, and started swaggering towards the boat to help his colleague.

"Wait a minute!" Donna caught up with him. "You are going to steal that boat."

"It's commandeer. Commandeer a boat – ship."

Donna stared at the small vessel. Hardly worth to be a fisher's boat. "It's a boat."

"Ship."

"Just leave her, Jack! She's bloody mad!" Gibbs murmured, redoubling his efforts on the boat. "Besides, bad luck they are, women. Especially the mad ones."

"Oh no. You are not leaving me behind, mate." Donna walked ahead and help pushing the boat. "I want to find the Doctor, and right now, you two are the only way to get to him – I'm sticking with you. Though you could tell me your name."

'Jack' sighed. "Captain Jack Sparrow, to your services." He pulled his hat with a crocked grin and resumed pushing the boat.

Donna had stopped dead. "No, you're not. Can't be. No way!" Would-be pirate-aliens, that she could take. She did know that Jack Sparrow did not exist. Not for real.

The two men had stepped out into the moonlight, and Donna stared at them in all their glory. Full pirate gear, haggard faces from the see, and Jack with the impossible beard and hair... She followed them, out onto the moonlight Caribbean beach, with a brilliant clear sea rolling onto the shore not a few feet away.

"In your dreams! You can't possibly be Jack Sparrow!"

"Captain," said 'Jack', teeth gritted and still pushing the boat. "Captain Jack Sparrow, deary, and whatever you've heard, I'm the only one, the original. Now, if you could..."

"I don't believe one word. Think you are Johnny Depp, eh? Not with me, mate! Get out of my head, alienboy, and tell me WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE DOCTOR?"

This time, her shouting did not cause the two men to flinch, but to push frantically at the boat, as from the buildings not far of the sound of barking and shouting rose suddenly, and Donna could see a group of men with axes and cutlasses and torches coming at them, dogs charging ahead of them. They did not look exactly friendly.

Gibbs and Jack had reached the water, and Jack was already climbing aboard while Gibbs pushed him further into the waves.

"Oh no. I am coming with you!" Donna charged after them, and had climbed into the boat before Gibbs could do the same. Soon, they were out on the ocean, with their pursuers shouting and waving angrily at them.


	3. THREE

**A/N: **And back to the Doctor. Again, two chapters today because the first few chapters are very short - but I promise they'll get longer!

Also, lovely that there are actually people reading this! Let me know what you think! I originally thought it was a bit of a mad crossover, but it just happened ;).

* * *

**~THREE~**

The Doctor was not quite sure what he had expected to find in the most notorious pirate harbour of the whole Caribbean, but no doubt it had been something like this, he thought when he ducked away under a bottle crashing through one of the windows. Somehow he doubted that Donna would have been drawn to such a place, but the local pub was always a good source of information, and maybe someone had noticed a strange woman, or a police box.

He stepped into the pub, and was assaulted by the smell that almost made him recoil – almost. It had been quite some time he had met real proper pirates, but he had not yet fully forgotten the experience. Fair enough, the last ones had been space pirates trying to kill him, but it was the same difference, anyway.

The Doctor shifted himself onto a barstool and grinned at the barkeeper, a heavily build giant with a wooden leg. "Hi. I'm the Doctor."

"Whatever. We're 'n unimaginative lot when it comes t' naming. What can I get ye, mate?"

"Information, I hope. I'm looking for someone."

"'m not sellin' that. What d'ye want? Rum?"

The Doctor was painfully aware that he didn't carry any money, despite his deep pockets, and even if he uncovered a coin or two, he doubted that it would fit the time period, but he had to find Donna, and this was a better place than most to start. "Fine, rum. I'm looking for a woman – about this height, brilliant red hair, dressed in... pyjamas, I think. She'd be looking for me."

"What was ye name again?"

"Just the Doctor. She's Donna."

The barkeeper slammed a tiny jug of rum down on the counter in front of the Doctor, which caused half the content to slosh over the rim onto the rough wooden surface. "Neve' seen her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe you've seen my ship, then?"

"There's been a lot o' ships goin' missin' lately. What's she like?"

"It's a police box. Should have landed somewhere hereabouts..." The TARDIS was programmed to return to dry ground if she crashed into the water, but if she was too badly damaged... "Perhaps washed ashore?"

"You're police?"

"No! I'm just... I'm just looking for a big blue box. Look, real pirate, that's me!" The Doctor flashed his psychic paper, relived that it hadn't gotten wet, and hoped it would come up with something to fool the man.

The barkeeper seemed satisfied. "Well, Doctor, haven't seen yer box, or yer mate, but if I where you, I'd be careful flashing that about – with that kind of award on yer head – no honour among pirates, mate."

"Why, what does it say?" The Doctor turned the psychic paper around, but as he glanced at it, it was, as ever, blank.  
"Can't read, eh? Well, Doc, I'd say with a million pounds reward, I'd keep a low profile. You owe me ten shillings for the rum." The barkeeper held out his hand, which was missing a finger, the scar made even more hideous by the gloomy light.

"Uhm." The Doctor slowly shifted to his feet. "Sorry to disappoint you, mate..."

"Ye don't wanna pay, eh? Charles, Harry!" Two equally burly men appeared at the door the Doctor had entered through.

The Doctor searched in his pocket for his screwdriver. "Rum isn't really my thing, you know?" He backed away, until he was standing right before the broken window, and then let the sonic create a piercing hum that caused confusion even over the general noise of the pub, and darted out of the window and into the night.


	4. FOUR

**~FOUR~**

"Soo..." Donna said, slowly. "Real pirates, yeah?"

Gibbs only glared at her, while Jack had the decency to look mildly embarrassed. "My ship's... temporarily unavailable."

"I see," Donna drawled. She had, in the meantime, figured out that those two really were humans, and that she really was in a tiny boat on the ocean, and that they really had no idea who she was, or who the Doctor was, or what had happened to the TARDIS.

"Vanished, that's what she has. Vanished. And we will go the same way with a woman on board. I'm tellin' ye, Jack, let's drop her off on the next island."

"You," Donna exclaimed, annoyed about Gibbs. "Both of you, are the most rubbish pirates I could have met. I mean, who steals a boat that's leaking? Really? A leaking boat?! We'll be lucky if we reach another island."

"We had to get off Tortuga. This was the only _ship_ available."

"Stealable, you mean. And if I recall correctly, there was another _boat_ in that hut." Donna pulled up her trouser legs. She was not exactly glad sitting in a boat in which water was gathering in nothing but her jim-jams, but she guessed it was better than to try and swim in jeans and all.

"Miss Nobel, never underestimate Captain Jack Sparrow!" Jack grinned at her, flashing his teeth. "Because right now, behind you, I can see land! Straight ahead, Master Gibbs."

"Aye, sir!"

Donna had chosen to ignore the pirate-y chatter. Instead, she turned around to get a better look at the land Gibbs was busy rowing to – it was barely an island. Shallow waters and a bit of sand and a pityful palm tree in the centre. "Oh great. And how do you plan to get off that island, once we've reached it?"

None of the two men answered, and Donna crossed her arms in front of her chest and huffed. She was quite certain the Doctor was not going to pop up on that island any time soon, and she was equally certain that her two companions would have _no idea _whatsoever how to get them away from there. Well, if she had to do all the work...

She rolled up her trousers – not that it mattered – quite a stretch from the shore and escaped the sinking boat with its two sullen companions. The water was so shallow it barely reached up to her ankle, and it was surprisingly warm. Little fish darted out of the way as she walked towards the island. It would have been quite nice, as a holiday resort, with a cruiser never far away to take her back to civilisation. It was not quite as funny with no way to leave it. If one had asked Donna what she'd take to a lonely island, she would have answered "my mobile" at any time – fat lot of good that was, now. She didn't even have it – it was on her bedside table – and if the Doctor had been kicked out of the TARDIS as she had, he wouldn't be able to answer it – as far as Donna knew, he never carried a phone.

While Donna stood under the palm tree, scanning the horizon for a flicker of a blue box, the two pirates were busy dragging the leaking boat ashore. Now, as the sun was slowly rising behind Donna, she could finally read the ill-fated vessel's name – _Seagull. _

_They should rename it 'Leaky'_, Donna thought, but kept it to herself. "What do you want with it? It's rubbish. Not even a real boat."

Sparrow stared at her, indignant. "It's a _ship_, and she brought us here, didn't she? Or would you have been preferred to be hanged alongside the two most infamous pirates of the Caribbean, Miss Noble?"

"You lot?" Donna feared for all the pirates of the Caribbean if they were worse than those two. "Anyway, is your ship going to take us away again?"

"Jack has a plan, haven't you, Jack?" Gibbs said, looking up at his captain, who seemed to try his best to look confident enough, but Donna would have been travelling with the Doctor for nothing if she had not seen the harrowing cluelessness behind those eyes. "He once escaped an island by taming sea turtles."

Donna seemed to remember having heard that somewhere before. "Is that so. I don't see any turtles, do you? Nor do I see any food, or water."

"There is shade," Jack pointed out, not very helpfully.

"Yes", Donna conceded, "or wood. Do you have an axe? Of course not. Well, you can starts poking it with your sabres to get some blanks to repair the boat, while I'll just be over there and hope that the Doctor finds us before we start eating each other."

The idea seemed to be not as unthinkable to the two pirates as Donna would have liked, but she doubted they had the guts for trying to kill her unless things got really desperate – and she was not looking forward to allowing that to happen. Instead, she kept staring at the horizon, searching for another ship as much as for a certain little blue box. There was lots of blue, of course – the sky was cloudless, and it was warming fast, and the Caribbean sea below sparkled in the first rays of sunlight like the most precious sapphires. However, she could not spot the white sails of a ship to the rescue, nor did she hear even a faint echo of the TARDIS's booming engines.


	5. FIVE

**A/N:** Last of the short chapters, I think. I would be uploading two, but the next one is quite long, so you'll have to wait! :) Apropos, I might settle into a weekly update schedule, aka update every Friday or on the weekend at the latest - though you might be able to convince me to make it twice weekly! So, please take a moment to review, I'd really love to hear your feedback. That being said: thanks to all those following the story!

* * *

**~FIVE~**

The Doctor could scarcely believe his eyes. He had brought some distance between the furious owner of the pub and his bodyguards, and then had ambled aimlessly along the coastline. He had discovered a fisher's shed with one small boat and a second one missing, but the remaining boat was already rotting and even with the aid of his screwdriver he hardly had the means to repair it. Alien tech, he was good with. Old fashioned woodcraft – not so much his thing.

At any rate, he had found her. He supposed his ambling hadn't been entire as aimless as he had assumed, his telepathic connection somehow drawing him to this place. There, wrenched between two lonely cliffs, swaying a bit with each wave that crashed against them but firmly lodged between the slippery rocks, was the TARDIS. There were some shells on the blue wood, an ugly scrape across one side and she was sobbing wet, but all the same, the Doctor felt immensely relieved to find her. Whatever had thrown them off course and managed to trick the TARDIS into relocated them outside – meaning that the TARDIS was close to being destroyed – had not got her after all.

At least, the current explained how the Doctor had ended up quite some way down the shore – if the TARDIS had dropped him just outside her door, as she normally would, since she was more than capable to contain any explosion within herself, she would have dropped him into the swirling waters that would have tugged him all the way to where he had woken up.

The Doctor did not like the fact that something, or someone, in this century had the technical knowledge to hack into the TARDIS's systems and trick her sensors, but he put that concern down as secondary. First, get back into the TARDIS; second, locate Donna; and only thirdly, and finally, find out what was messing with his beloved ship.

Getting to her proved more difficult than the Doctor would have assumed. Further down the beach, where he had encountered the shed, the waters had been shallow, deepening only slowly towards the sea. Here, there were many unforeseen depth and a fierce current, not to speak of the untamed force with which the waves crashed against the rocks. Finally, the Doctor succeeded reaching the TARDIS by scrambling over said rocks, which fully ruined his clothes, and climbing onto the TARDIS's roof. Luckily, she had parked correctly, with her door fully accessible, if it had not been for the churning ocean below.

The Doctor had sworn himself he would never do this again. He had done it once, in memory of River, and he had loved it, but until he met her again, he would open the TARDIS door the old way – but now, that was impossible.

Holding on firmly to the roof, which was slippery from the spray, with one hand, he raised the other and snipped his fingers.

The door opened despite the waves. Nevertheless, some water immediately rushed inside, while the Doctor lowered himself from the roof and dropped onto the now wet and slippery mesh floor. The water was no problem, the TARDIS would evaporate it as soon as it came anywhere close to it's circuits – maybe he would find a burned fuse somewhere, but that would be the extend of it.

The Doctor closed the door behind him and sighed contentedly as the TARDIS welcomed him home with a wash of affection.

"What has happened to you, eh?" he crooned and patted the console with the same heartfelt affection. He would have to set about cleaning away the shells and the ugly scrape, but that could wait until he had found Donna. He reckoned she was either even further down the shore than the TARDIS, or somewhere further back than he had woken up, but either way, the TARDIS would pick her up. He swivelled the screen around and stared for a moment at the warning that something had been messing with the TARDIS's sensors. She had noticed it was a ruse in the end and that was the reason why she had stayed close by, but by then she had already transported them outside, and there was no way she could get them back in without lowering the shields – which would cause her to smash in the current. The Doctor pushed the warning aside – all things in due order – and activated the exterior sensors. Whenever he took on a companion in his travels, the TARDIS automatically locked on to them, wherever they were, for the translation matrix to work. In the early days, it used to sever the connection, but now the Doctor just let them be. The TARDIS could easily sustain such bonds for miles and miles, and hundreds, perhaps thousands at one time, as long as she was still connected to him.

Sure enough, Donna did show up on the screen. She was somewhere out on the ocean, but the Doctor could easily find her with the TARDIS – after all, he had once navigated it across a very busy motorway to rescue Donna. For this, the autopilot would do. He suspected it would be a bit off, emergency procedures still powering down, but nothing he couldn't correct.

"Well, then", he muttered towards the central column, which was already rising and falling rhythmically, "allons-y."


	6. SIX

**~SIX~**

Donna scarcely believed her eyes. "What's _that_?"  
Captain Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs were lying under a makeshift shed of palm leaves, enjoying the sun and sharing whatever drink there was in Gibbs' leather flask.

Jack raised himself up onto his elbows, blinking up at her. She was standing over him, blocking out the sun. "That's a hut," he said, a slight drunken slur in his voice.

"Aye, and I am the Queen of England!" Donna set her arms akimbo. "You were supposed to repair the boat, not get comfortable!"

"Deary, clearly your not from around her. I'd suggest, modestly, we do it my way, eh?"

"Fine," Donna conceded. She knew that the wrack lying just before them was likely impossible to save, but she had expected them to try, at least. She wasn't one to succumb to fate, after all she had turned the world upside down looking for the Doctor and had succeeded, but she did not like waiting for him to find her, especially when God knows what had happened to him. After all, it had to have been him who had sent her out of the TARDIS, hadn't it?

"Want some?" Sparrow was offering her the flask.

"No, thanks," she said, recoiling from the sharp stench of rum coming from it.

Jack shrugged. "Your loss." He took a large gulp, then flopped back onto the stand. A few drops of rum trickled down his beard onto his clothes. No wonder the guys stank.

"You could take a bath someday, you know," Donna offered.

They ignored her. Suddenly, however, Gibbs sat up violently, causing the shed to collapse around them. However, he hushed their protests with raised hand. "What in heaven's name is that?"

A roaring, rhythmic noise was booming over the gentle gurgling of the waves, growing steadily louder.

"Jack! We must be on a whale! It's said they grow so big islands form on their backs! We have to get off, or we will be dragged down into the watery depth!" Gibbs clambered to his feet, dragging the palm leaves towards the _Seagull_. Jack was a bit more sluggish to get to his feet, and he stopped dead, swaying on the spot, when Donna grabbed his arm.

"That's nonsense! It's the TARDIS, look!" She pointed against the sun, where a small, rectangled object briefly appeared as a black shadow against the glowing bright circle. Donna would have recognised the sound of the TARDIS engine any time, anywhere, and she was never more happy to hear it.

She raced out to meet the Doctor where he had parked, quite a bit off the shore, but in waters so low she didn't even bother rolling up her trousers. "Doctor!"

He opened the door and stepped out, giving the TARDIS a pat and then opening his arms to envelope her in a hug. "Donna Noble!"  
"How did you find us?"  
"TARDIS sensors. Ever infallible," he said, beaming, and flicked a seashell off the TARDIS's door. "Took me a while to find the TARDIS, though. You know what, Donna? We are in the early eighteenth century, on Earth, in the Caribbean."

"Yeah, I know! With pirates!" Donna pointed down the beach where Gibbs and Jack stood side by side. Jack looked his usual self-important self, his hip tilted, his hand on the handle of his pistol, while Gibbs just gaped.

"Oh, you got company. I was wondering how you managed to get so far away. Hello!" The Doctor waved at the two pirates, but neither waved back. Unperturbed, he offered Donna his arm. "Care to introduce me, Miss Noble?"

"With pleasure."

They walked over, arm in arm. Donna still wore her pyjamas, while the Doctor was as primly dressed as ever – with the exception of his coat, which he didn't need in the heat, anyway. Instead, a pair of sunglasses were sticking out of his pocket.

He grasped the pirates by the hand and shook hands with each of them enthusiastically. "Hello! Pirates! Has been a while. Should definitely do this more often."

"Doctor, this is Captain Jack Sparrow, and his first mate, Gibbs," Donna said.

For a moment, the grin was wiped from the Doctor's face and he looked as startled as she had, then the grin was back.

"And this is the Doctor."

Jack cleared his throat. "You didn't tell us you were married."

"Oh, we're not-" they started out together; "-married," finished the Doctor, with an even broader grin.

"As you like. Whatever that vehicle of yours is, Doctor, d'ye take passengers? We are... a bit stranded."

"Oh, now he admits it!" Donna rolled her eyes.

"Any time, Captain Sparrow, " the Doctor answered. "She's all yours."

Donna was glad to be back inside the TARDIS. The familiar coral theme seemed all the more fitting as she stepped through the wooden door into the vast interior, out of the warm water and sand onto the cold mesh floor. She had once told the Doctor that she thought his idea of warm was freezing, but he had argued he couldn't possibly raise the temperature in the control room without damaging the circuits. Donna thought it had been a clever lie, but she didn't mind any longer. As long as the Doctor was comfortable, she didn't get to spend too much time in the control room – adventures usually waited beyond the coral structure in the endless paths and walkways of the TARDIS, or outside those wooden doors.

The Doctor was already jumping around the console, punching this, hitting that, and every now and again taking a glance at the screen, where the swirly Gallifreyan symbols flashed and disappeared with incredible speed. "Come on in!" he called to the two pirates, barely throwing a look over his shoulder as he stared intently at the symbols.

Jack, to his credit, had followed Donna inside without much hesitation, although he now hovered on the threshold, his upper body tipped so far back to stare at the ceiling that Donna wondered how he could maintain his balance. However, she supposed if he could maintain that curious swagger all day, this was no great feat.

Gibbs, on the other hand, had taken one look at the interior and now was on his way back towards the small island, muttering to himself about supernatural beings, ill omens and witchcraft.

"He's a bit superstitious, isn't he?" Donna said, walking over to stand with the Doctor, while Sparrow was running a hand curiously over the handrails that led up to the central column. He look up as if startled, but fell soon enough back into his usual position. "Most pirates are, deary." He turned towards his escaping friend. "Master Gibbs! Get back here!"

Donna jumped at the loud and harsh bellow. "You can shout!"

"He would have to. If he's a captain, he has to be able to make himself heard over a storm, " the Doctor said, without looking up from the screen. He had pulled out his glasses – not the sunglasses, but his usual, dark rimmed spectacles, and was frowning.

"It works, at least."

Gibbs had turned back and was slowly approaching the TARDIS again, circling her until he finally stepped over the threshold to join his captain. The Doctor flicked a switch and the door slammed shut as the central column began to rise rapidly.

"Anywhere particular I can drop you off, Captain?", the Doctor asked, pocketing his glasses and leaning back against the leather bench. Donna could tell he wasn't really relaxing, and she hadn't liked the look on his face before, hadn't liked it one bit.

"Any harbour should do," Jack answered, sauntering up to the console. "What d'ye call this ship, mate?"

"It's the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, with no small amount of pride in his voice. "That's short for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

"It's different."

"You don't seem very shocked."

Jack grinned crookedly. "I've seen a lot o' strange things."

"Where's your ship, then, Captain?"

"_The Black Pearl_ vanished. One moment she was there, and the next, just gone," explained Gibbs, in a perfect storyteller's voice. "The crew were all stranded on shore, and no sign of the ship, and no one had seen a thing."

"And the crew?" Donna asked.

"All gone." Jack seemed less grieved by that as by the loss of his vessel. While Gibbs had spoken, his eyes had hardened, and his lips pressed together to a thin line behind that extravagant beard with its numerous pearls and clinging rings.

The Doctor was frowning again. "This happen often, ships disappearing?"

Gibbs shrugged. "It happens. There's storms, and pirates, of course."

"But the _Pearl _vanished in safe harbour."

"Aye." Gibbs nodded, his eyes gleaming. As much as he seemed governed by superstitious, Donna supposed he was an invaluable source for rumours.

"You're not taking him serious, are you, Doctor?"

The Doctor met her gaze. He was no longer frowning, but Donna could see that he was, nevertheless, worried by what he had heard. He looked back at Jack. "Perhaps I can find your ship for you, Captain."

Both Gibbs and Jack froze in mid-motion. "Indeed?"

The Doctor grinned. "No harm in trying! And in the meantime, I am sure the TARDIS will provide you all necessary comfort. Just down that staircase, and follow the corridor."

The two pirates headed off, Jack in the lead, while Gibbs hovered behind him, constantly on guard.

"There's a pool! Take a bath!" Donna called after them, and turned back to the Doctor when they were out of sight. "There's something I wanted to ask you – about the TARDIS."

He dragged in a large gulp of breath and rubbed his neck. "Oh, yeah... She thought she was in trouble, so she relocated us – it's just a safety mechanism. I'd have gotten back to her faster, but the current washed me quite some way up the shore."  
"So she put us to sleep."

"Or whatever triggered the mechanism did."

"I don't like that frown of yours."

"Nah, I'm sure it's nothing." He didn't look as though it was nothing.

"Anyway", Donna said, "that's not what I meant. It can't really be 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space', can it? I mean, that's English. Why would a Gallifreyan time travelling space ship have an English name?"

The Doctor flashed her a grin. "Oh, brilliant Donna. It's not, but it is a fairly accurate description of what the Gallifreyan word means. That's Gallifreyan for you. TARDIS, that's how we call it, but it's not a acronym, it describes all the things the TARDIS can do, what it is... Oh, let's just stick with 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space', okay?"

Donna returned his grin. "Okay. So, what does it say about the _Pearl_, the TARDIS? Do you really know how to find her?"

"If she can still be found. I wonder if there is a connection between the TARDIS's disappearing and Captain Jack's vessel."

"You think there's something to that? They were probably just drunk when it was stolen – have you smelled them? And besides, we are nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle, are we?"

The Doctor looked sheepish. "As a matter of fact..."

"That it. I'm going to change." And with that, Donna walked off into the TARDIS to find her room and finally something decent to wear.

As relieved as the Doctor was to have found Donna safe and sound, he was grateful to have some time alone to think. Gibbs's words had brought back what the barkeeper had said: _There's been a lot o' ships goin' missin' lately. _And, as Donna had so aptly discovered, they were in fact quite close to the Bermuda Triangle. Not that the real mystery about that particular area would surface before the twentieth century, but coupled with the TARDIS going wonky, and not being able to pinpoint the source of the virus that had manipulated her sensors, the Doctor could not help wondering. Perhaps there was more to it than superstition and rumour, and perhaps if, deep inside the Bermuda Triangle, there was something that could manipulate the TARDIS's sensors, he should go and check.

Donna would probably agree, but the Doctor had this nagging feeling that they should get away while they still could... After all, the crew of _The Black Pearl_ had not been harmed, all that had disappeared was a ship, wood and linen and paint, nothing much.

"What do you think, eh?" he wondered aloud, patting the TARDIS console. At any rate, there really was nothing for it – he could never resist a decent mystery, and the disappearance of one ship might not be one, but to solve the riddle of the Bermuda Triangle...

"Doctor?"

He looked up to see Captain Sparrow standing on the far side of the control room, his one hand resting casually on the hilt of his sword. In the other, he cradled a small box.

"Is your ship really able to discover the _Pearl_?"

"Haven't really started looking for her yet." The Doctor pushed a few buttons. If the _Pearl _had been a spaceship, he wouldn't have had any problems locating her. Alien energy signatures where extremely distinctive, and even if she were a steamship the TARDIS should be able to track her down in a matter of minutes, but an ordinary sailing ship... The TARDIS, just as his screwdriver, always had had certain difficulties with wood. He pulled the little device out of his pocket, flipping it in his hand thoughtfully. "Don't worry, Captain, the TARDIS will find her."

Jack looked doubtful. "This compass." He stepped to the Doctor's side and allowed the little box to dangle from his hand on a rough cord. "It shows me whatever I want most, which is the _Pearl_. Always the _Pearl_." He caught it again and flipped open the lid.

The small needle twisted and turned aimlessly, twirling that way, then this way, but never settling on a direction.

"Hum. That could be the TARDIS. It generates an energy field in which magnetic devices cease to work."

"It's been like this ever since the _Pearl _disappeared."

"And it shows you what you want most? May I?" The Doctor put on his glasses and took the compass from the pirate's hand, pointing his sonic at it. The whirring noise seemed to make the needle spin even harder, then settle down to the erratic flickering of before. "Interesting device you've got there. Where did you get it?"

"It was handed down to me from my father, as from his father before."  
The Doctor hummed, glanced at his sonic, then handed the compass back. "It seems to be working perfectly. Are you sure you know what you want?"

"I do." Sparrow said with a frown as he looked at the twitching needle. "If it is working, why didn't it show a direction for you, Doctor?"

The Doctor put sonic and glasses away and crossed his arms, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Either it's the TARDIS, or it is because what I want most is irreversibly lost. But I promise you, Captain Jack Sparrow, I will find your ship, even without that compass."

Jack put the little box away. "Forgive me for not thanking ye before I see her with me own eyes."

"Of course. Where's your friend, Captain?"

"Back in the cabin. He's one of the best."

"I'm sure he is."

"You will call us when we have arrived?"

"I'll send Donna down to fetch you."


	7. SEVEN

**~SEVEN~**

Donna, in the meantime, was standing in front of her wardrobe, wondering what to wear. It was not that she hadn't brought enough clothes – in fact, she'd even brought too much. There had still been no occasion where she could possibly wear a woman's hat. Even so, with half her wardrobe to chose from, she could not think of something fitting to the Caribbean heat without appearing totally inappropriate. She liked dressing up according to the time, but she supposed she wouldn't find a shop anywhere round here.

The Doctor, of course, had offered her free use of his own extensive wardrobe. Why he would keep so many clothes if he wore the same three suits over and over again, Donna wouldn't know, and she didn't really care to find out.

In the end, she selected brown trousers, a white blouse, and then did climb up the spiral staircase to take a look at the Doctor's costumes. There were no women's clothes, of course, and neither could she see the suits the Doctor used to wear. Instead, she discovered a strangely-looking brownish hat with a red stripe, and a scarf that was far too long. But then, on top of a pile of clothes, she discovered just what she'd been looking for without knowing it.

She found the Doctor in the control room where she'd left him, sitting on the leather bench with his plimsolls resting on the console edge and watching the central column rise and fall, once in a while glancing at the screen.

"What do you think?" she asked, waving her new hat. It was a round, broad-felt brown hat, with a largish feather on top. With her simple blouse, the brown trousers and her boots she almost looked like a pirate now.

The Doctor grinned. "Very pirate-y."

"How's it going?" She flopped down on the bench beside him. "Oi, butch over a bit."

He moved to make room for her on the bench. "Oh, it's going splendid. Well, fine. Well, I say fine... I s'ppose it could go better."

"What's the matter?"

"The TARDIS is having a hard time pinpointing the ship – any ship. It's like the ocean below us has been wiped clean of them when it should be teeming with ships."

"So we're flying above the Caribbean sea?" Donna jumped to her feet and approached the door, flicking it open, only to jump back and grasp the handrail for safety. "Blimey!"

The TARDIS's flight had never been exactly steady, and she still had a feeling of being perfectly safe on her feet and upright, but to see the blue and green ocean fill the entire view messed with her equilibrium.

"Yeah, sorry. TARDIS stabilisation generators. Wait a sec..." The Doctor punched a button that seemed to belong on a suit rather than on the console of a space ship, and the impossible view shifted into a more upright position. The ocean now stretched towards the horizon, glittering brilliant in the sun, while far to the right, Donna spotted a couple of green specks that could have been islands.

"The TARDIS has stabilisation filters?" She slowly let go of the handrail and inhaled the salty breeze.

"Course it does! How would you expect to stand upright if it hadn't?" The Doctor joined her by the door and admired the view.

"So that's the Bermuda Triangle."

"Its outer regions, yeah. Of course it's not called that now, nor is there any mystery about it, not yet, anyway. It's just another part of the Caribbean."

"And yet your taking us into its centre, am I right?"

The Doctor rubbed his neck again. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Mind telling me why?"

"Something's been messing with the TARDIS, and nothing in this period of time should be able to do that. In fact, _nothing _should be able to do that. So whatever it is, it's not good. That, and the ships disappearing."

"_Ships_?" Donna echoed.

"Yeah. Apparently, it's not just the _Pearl_. Like I said, you should find hundreds of ships down there – instead, not a single one."

"So where have they gone?"

"That's what we are going to find out." The Doctor grinned at her, and Donna felt the familiar surge of adventure.

"Enough of the view, Donna?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor lent forward and pulled the door shut, walking back to the console, hands in his pockets. "Interesting fellow, your pirate, by the way."  
"Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"Yeah. I knew another Captain Jack once, but he was nothing like him – anyway, interesting compass he has there. Says it shows him what he wants most."

Donna laughed. "That's nonsense, right? I mean, it's probably just broken."

The Doctor made a soft humming noise and fiddled with the console.

"He can't really have a compass that points to what he wants most. Doctor, this is the flipping seventeenth century!"

"Eighteenth."

"Never mind! There's no technology, right? Is there?"

"Shouldn't be. The device's genuine, though. Works for everyone, apparently, but won't point to the _Pearl_."

"Did Gibbs tell you this? Because if he did, I wouldn't give a penny's worth-"

"No, I soniced it." The Doctor dug the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, flipping it about thoughtfully. "Could have been thrown back in time. I knew a species once that could read your very heart's desire just by looking at you... There should be a rift somewhere hereabouts – probably at the centre of the Bermuda Triangle, come to think of it. Perhaps it got wider over the time, swallowing ships and even aircrafts."

"Well, if it is alien, then perhaps it's Sparrow's fault. Perhaps he doesn't know what he wants."

"Oh, he does. His ship is his home. He wouldn't give her up for anything."

"Like yourself, you mean."

The Doctor didn't say anything, and Donna figure she probably shouldn't dig deeper.

"So, about that rift – is it dangerous?"

"Nah! Used to visit the rift in Cardiff regularly! It's fuel for the TARDIS – not that she really needs it very often, just for long range trips... Just occasionally things come through."

"_Things_."

"Yeah, like Jack's compass."

"Oh, yes, about Jack..."

"Hmmm?"  
"How can he even be here?"

The Doctor looked at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"He is Captain Jack Sparrow! Captain _Jack Sparrow_! He is a fictional character! How can a fictional character be walking around history? You said when we visited Agatha Christie... Tell me Johnny Depp is not a time traveller."

"Johnny Depp is not a time traveller," the Doctor said, grinning. "It's probably the rift. Ideas bleeding through time... Probably someone picked them up."

"Right. So you're saying anything can get through that rift."

"Not anything. Well, ghosts, occasionally." The Doctor made a face. "Not an experience I wish to repeat. Anyway, usually it's just little things, or thoughts. Everything else would be pulled apart."

"So it can't really be the reason for the disappearances."

"It might. Things might not get through, but they can still fall into the gap."

"You lost me."

"It's a gap in time and space. Think of it as a... rip in the fabric of reality, a fissure in a large block of ice. It's not a rip, but just think of a rip. You drop something in one end. A small object might come out at the other end, but a larger one might get stuck. That could happen if a ship was right above the fissure."

"Then how do you plan to get her back?"

"I don't. There's no way to pull a ship out of a rift in time and space, and even if there were, it would be torn apart. I'm still hoping it's something else."

"And you explained to me all about rifts and stuff just for fun?"

The Doctor shrugged. "You asked. Anyway, perhaps something did get through, and now it's grown."

Donna sincerely hoped he was kidding. "It doesn't have to be aliens, does it? Perhaps someone just ran away with the _Pearl_."

"That still leaves the mysterious occurrence with the crew, and the TARDIS."  
"Hm." Donna sat down on the leather bench. Frankly, her head was reeling, and she wasn't sure whether she should ask the Doctor about his theories any more until they were confirmed... How he could handle all that in his head, she wouldn't know. "So we couldn't go back to visit Sherlock Holmes, right?"

"Right! Although..."

"No way!"  
"I met her, actually. Probably created her, in fact."

"_Her_?"

"Yes..." The Doctor looked up at the ceiling, lost in his memories. "We go way back... Uh, such a long time. She got rid of Jack the Ripper for me, in return for a favour."

"You've got to be kidding."

He grinned. "Probably."

Donna punched him.

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Stop talking rubbish, then."

Suddenly, the TARDIS screen flashed angrily red, rudely interrupting their friendly banter.

The Doctor whirled around, pulling the screen towards him. "Oh, that's not good. Not good at all."

"What is it?" Donna demanded, sliding off the bench.

The Doctor didn't answer, racing to the opposite side of the console instead, and hitting something with a sledgehammer. It made an ugly dinging noise, as if something had just broken. "What's gotten into you!?"

In response, the TARDIS started shaking violently. Donna grabbed hold of the console. Sparrow and Gibbs came staggering in, both surprisingly sufficient in their movements on the swaying ground, even though none of them stood as firm as the Doctor.

"Doctor! What is it?"

The Doctor raced around the console again, hitting things as he went, then stopping to adjust a series of switches. "Ah, no good... Hold on tight!"

The TARDIS gave a sudden, terrible lurch and Donna was thrown off her feet, lost her grip and slid through under the handrail, then everything dissolved into blackness.

It was still dark when Donna opened her eyes. Her head hurt – she'd probably hit it on something, but to her relief she didn't feel any wound as she prodded the sore area.

It was pitch black in the TARDIS, not even an emergency light flickering – if she still was inside the TARDIS. She felt around. Sure enough, there was the coral structure, and one of the strange boils of the walls stuck uncomfortably into her back. She used the coral to pull herself to her feet and took some careful steps forward until her searching hands found the handrail and she climbed under it, her boots clanging on the mesh floor. She'd lost her hat, but she had more important concerns right now.

"Doctor? Anyone?"

Suddenly, a bright light flooded the console room, and Donna could just make out the black outline of Captain Jack Sparrow standing in the open TARDIS door. Once her eyes had adjusted, she could see the bright circle of the Caribbean sun above them, strangely distorted, as if they were – underwater!

"That's... interesting", Jack remarked.

"You can say that again!" Donna slowly approached the door, but her foot caught on something and she tripped, crashing into the console and pressing several things simultaneously. Nothing stirred. She looked back to find the Doctor lying on the floor where he had supposedly fallen, his arms thrown out as if to grab hold of something and, having failed, now lying limply on the mesh floor. She had tripped over his long legs, trainers sticking up into the air. He was not moving.

Donna knelt down by his side, while Jack sauntered over to his own companion, who was sitting up, groaning.

Donna shook the Doctor by his shoulders, and started back in worry when his head lolled around to face her – his eyes were closed, but his entire face was screwed up in immense concentration, so intense that the sight alone shot a pang of worry through her. Donna had seen the Doctor focussing, concentrating, even being angry before, but never, never had she seen such an expression of anguish, worry and focus at the same time. "Doctor?"

He did not even twitch.

"Doctor!" Donna patted his cheek. "Oi, spaceman, don't you dare, don't you dare do that to me!" She had tried to keep her voice from rising in pitch, but the deep growling sound that reverberated around the TARDIS had caused her to start. She was about to order Jack to close the door, certain that they would be safe inside the TARDIS, when it occurred to her that it would be pitch-black once again should he do so.

She stood, placing a hand on the edge of the TARDIS console. She couldn't feel her as the Doctor did, but she knew that there was some sort of link to her – the Doctor had explained that she was responsible for translating alien languages for her. She hoped that maybe the TARDIS could hear her. _Come on, old blue box! What's with the lights? The Doctor needs you!_

Donna looked back down at the Doctor's limp form. _And so do I, for that matter._

The TARDIS did not exactly spring back to live, but Donna could feel a tiny flicker of energy coursing through her fingertips and suddenly the door snapped shut and a dim light emanated from the TARDIS walls. Donna assumed it was some sort of emergency lighting, which in itself was a bad sign, but she had other things to think of at the moment.

The growling was still there, but lower now, and Donna hoped that it was just the waters crunching against the outer hull – which, she hoped, wasn't really made of wood. She would have appreciated not being trapped on the bottom of the Caribbean sea, though.

"Miss Noble," Jack interrupted her train of thought. "I s'ppose the disadvantage of our situation is that ye have no idea how to command this ship, aye?"

"The _disadvantage_, dumbo, is the Doctor lying insensible on the floor! Don't tell me you want to fly the TARDIS!"

Jack shrugged. "All ships are essentially the same."

"Well, have a try – but don't you dare break anything!"

Jack grinned and approached the console, surveying the seeming endless and chaotic assortment of switches, buttons and what-nots. He circled the console once, then stopped in front of the view screen and the pump, as Donna called it – she had no idea what it really was supposed to do. "Master Gibbs!"

"Aye, Captain?" Gibbs clambered onto the mesh floor – like Donna, he had been thrown against the walls at the impact, but unlike her was rubbing his apparently sore arm.

"Take the other side." Jack did not wait until his companion was in position, but dug a little box out of his pocket, snapped it open and set it down on the console.  
"Oh, that's _the_ compass, yeah? It won't help you, mate." Donna supposed there was no harm in letting the two try – the TARDIS seemed to be low on power anyway, and with the emergency protocols running, she would be able to fend off any ill advised manipulation to her systems.

Instead, she returned to the Doctor's side. The Time Lord was still lying completely still, his face still twisted into that horrible grimace. She took hold of him and dragged him out of reach ere the two pirates trampled on him. For such a skinny guy, he was surprisingly heavy, but she just _knew_ that the TARDIS had arranged for a sickroom to be right around the corner, and she managed to make it that far.

She could still hear Jack giving instructions to Gibbs, while the TARDIS had as yet failed to respond. "You could help me, you know!" she shouted, but none of the pirates came to her aid, but thankfully the TARDIS was more forthcoming.

The sickroom was essentially and empty room with a single bed that could be lowered right down to the floor, which at least saved her from trying to lift the Doctor. She still made a tangle of those long limbs until the Doctor finally rested on the bed and she pushed it up to a normal height. It was disconcerting that in a spaceship there should be no automatic hospital bed, but then perhaps it was because the TARDIS was damaged.

Donna took a look around. There was a chair, and a pillow, but nothing else – the room was completely barren, its walls imitating the console room's theme on a smooth wall, like a painting, or wallpaper. It was also considerably colder. She couldn't exactly feel comfortable in such an environment, but she trusted that the Doctor did. Or should.

He had still not stirred, and his face was frozen in place like a mask. She settled down into the chair and pushed to pillow under his head, ruffling his hair even further in the progress. "Come on, Doctor. There are two pirates messing with your TARDIS, and we are on the bottom of the bloody Caribbean sea, and there is something out there – I really don't want to do this on my own." For a moment, Donna wondered if this was how every ship that had disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle had ended up, but she pushed the thought aside.

Jack Sparrow and Gibbs had fallen silent, and then she heard it too – from deep inside the TARDIS, somewhere so far away, a bell was tolling. Deep and dark and threatening, and suddenly the Doctor jolted upright.

"Cloister bell. Very bad!" He shot her a manic grin, then shot out of the room and back into to the console room, as if nothing had happened.

And still, the bell was tolling.


	8. EIGHT

**~EIGHT~**

The Doctor pushed Gibbs aside as he darted towards the console to stand beside Jack. The pirate looked mildly astonished, but recovered quickly.

"The ship seems t' be broken," he said.

"How do you know?"

Sparrow clicked his compass shut. "Because it's the means to my end, and if flyin' it gets me to the _Pearl_ – the compass tells me all I need t' know."

"Oh, clever you!" The Doctor had spared only a fraction of his energy to talk to Jack – inside, he was listening, while his heart beat in rhythm with the cloister bell. The TARDIS was damaged, or she thought she was. Something was messing with her systems, something so strong that it had even managed to find its way into the Doctor's mind via the telepathic link. The Doctor had fought it off, but it was still in the TARDIS's system. They were effectively grounded, Jack was right, and... "Oh, we are at the bottom of the ocean!"

"Now you notice!" Donna flopped down on leather bench. "What are you gonna do about it, spaceman?"

The Doctor didn't answer, but crouched down on the floor and peered under the console, where sparks were flying. The TARDIS was putting up a fight, and losing. That was bad. "Donna, would you mind opening the door?"

"Huh?" Donna knelt down to look under the console, as well. "Come again?"

"I said, please open the door."

Donna disappeared again, and the Doctor lay down on his back, opening the small panel that covered the circuits with one hand, while digging in his pockets for the sonic screwdriver with the other. It was hot and stuffy under the console, and the Doctor blinked away the stars dancing in front of his eyes. He wasn't quite sure whether it was the after-image of the sparks, or the fact that he was developing a headache right out of hell, but there was no time for such worries now. There wasn't even time for putting on his glasses.

The sonic whirred in his hand and the sparks stopped, but the cloister bell kept tolling. The Doctor had shut down the circuit to keep it from burning out – it was all he could do. They would have to...

"Doctor!"

He dived up from under the console. The screen was flashing in red, Gallifreyan symbols dancing over the smooth surface in horrible, terrible speed, and none meant good things. However, that was not what Donna was pointing at. She stood by the door, pointing up.

Above the surface, a big, dark shape had drifted in front of the sun, casting a black shadow onto the spot where the TARDIS was grounded.

"It's the _Pearl_," Gibbs said in awe. Jack was smirking – in his right hand, he cradled the compass, and the needle was very still, pointing straight ahead. "Aye. How far do you reckon it is to the surface, Doc?"

The Doctor shrugged, momentarily distracted from the console. "Ten feet? Not much, anyway."

"Safe to swim?"

"Yes, but don't even think about it. Listen to me! Don't even think about it, Captain!" The Doctor darted forward, but by the time he reached the door, Jack had already taken a single step through the TARDIS door and was outside, suspended by the water. Without glancing back, he began to swim fast and straight, up to the black shadow of the _Pearl_.

At the same moment, the console exploded.

Donna yelped in surprise, and the Doctor glared at Gibbs and said, teeth gritted: "I said, don't even think about it!" In his head, the TARDIS was screaming, not in delight as always when they shared a perilous situation, but in agony. The safety protocols had been damaged and she wasn't able to transport them to safety, but the message was clear.

The Doctor pushed Donna towards the door. "Go, follow him. You too, Gibbs."

"Aren't we safer in here?" Donna asked.

The Doctor turned his gaze to face her, and the look made her blood run cold. "Not any more."

The console was spraying sparks, invaluable – irreplaceable – parts fused to lumps of metal, or burned to cinder.

Gibbs didn't hesitate following his captain, who had disappeared from view by now, but Donna hesitated at the doorstep. The Doctor had turned back to the console, pointing his screwdriver at it. The sound was inaudible for human ears over the cacophony of the bell and the explosions, but the Doctor evidently could hear something, for he kept it pressed close to his ear, switching the settings with his fingertips.

"You're coming?" Donna asked, and, for a moment, he seemed to hesitate, then he nodded.

"Yeah, 'course. Go on!"

"Right..." Donna extended her arm, slowly moving her hand out through the doorway. It was strange. From one moment to the next, her hand went from being completely dry to utterly wet, like breaking the surface of a very calm lake. The water was not exactly cold, but she didn't fancy a swim, either. Still, if there was no choice... She closed her eyes and stepped forward, just remembering to hold her breath. Eyes still closed, she started kicking upwards, trying to ignore the weight of her clothes that were slowly getting soaked, and didn't stop until her head burst through the surface and she could feel the sun in her face. She was drifting just outside the shadow the _Pearl _had cast.

Jack and Gibbs were standing at the railing, and Gibbs threw her a robe. "Take hold o'that!"

Donna did as she was told, still kicking the water, and between them, the two pirates succeeded in pulling her aboard. The _Pearl _was bigger than Donna had imagined, and she realised now why she was called _The _Black _Pearl._ Worn pitch-black sails were hanging above her head, none of them unfurled, but she could just imagine that the _Pearl _at full speed must look like a dark, threatening shadow on the horizon. Now, she turned back towards the railing, trying to spot the TARDIS beneath the water. It wouldn't have been possible if there hadn't been one brilliant explosion of light, multiplied even by the water, and then nothing. And still no Doctor.

For a few agonising moments, Donna held her breath, then, his head burst through the surface, and he started swimming towards them.

When the Doctor climbed over the railing, he threw a rueful glance back to where the TARDIS had been, before turning towards Donna. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

He nodded, then pulled the screwdriver and the psychic paper out of his pockets, placing them on the sunbathed deck. "No use, wet."

Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "Remind me to thank ye when we've gotten her under way, aye?" Then, the two pirates walked away, Jack already bellowing order, leaving the two of them alone.

The Doctor wasn't smiling. His lips were pressed tightly together, and he had buried his hands in his trouser pockets, leaning against the railing.

"What happened down there?" Donna asked, imitating his position and staring ahead out into the open sea before them. On the starboard side, there were a couple of islands in the distance, but none seemed to be particularly spectacular.

"Had to shut the TARDIS down – that means, no heat, no energy, no life support. At least, it shouldn't get her while she still functions." He sounded very grave, and very final.

Donna shivered. "Who shouldn't?" _And_, she thought, _how are we gonna get away?_

The Doctor didn't answer, and if they'd been in the TARDIS, Donna would have left him alone, but they weren't – where could she possibly go on a pirate ship? They had found the _Pearl_, at least – that had to be good – or was it? Donna wasn't quite so sure they had done the Caribbean sea a favour by helping a pirate.

"My people called them Dancing Stars," the Doctor suddenly said in a low voice. "They are an ancient race – oh, so ancient. Perhaps older than the Time Lords themselves, but who knows. It's probably just the one and it has probably been here for longer than you humans even exist. So old, and so brilliant, and amazing, and so dangerous."

"What did it do?"

The Doctor didn't seem to have heard her. "In their raw form, their childhood, they are tiny. Just brilliant, little specks of light, floating in space after they departed from their home planet. It's gone now. Destroyed in the Time War. I suppose there aren't many left, and certainly no children.

"They travelled through space, and when they find one with a large body of water, they make it their home. They adapt. They become part of the chosen world like a new organ – impossible to remove, and generally, generally, they even go entirely unnoticed by everyone else. Only, this one's got it all wrong."

"There's such a creature on Earth?"

The Doctor inhaled sharply and rubbed his neck. Little droplets of water rained from his hair. "Yeah. Probably one of the islands back there."

"It's an island?!" No wonder Gibbs had heard stories about a whale so big that there was an island on its back!

"Probably. I could find the Dancing Star with the sonic, of course, but certainly not in this state, and it's not much use, anyway."

"But what of the TARDIS?"

"She's gone."

"And we're trapped here?" The expression on the Doctor's face told her all she needed to know. "But we've found the _Pearl_ – that can't be a coincidence."

"It's not. The Dancing Star offered us an exchange, and Captain Jack took the offer."

"Do you want to be left alone?"

The Doctor looked at her. Donna had had the impression before that he was much older than he looked; now, however, he looked so much older still. His eyes were deep dark pools in which she could see just a fraction of the grief, the despair, the burden that rested on his shoulders. Then, suddenly, he forced a smile, and the dark shadows dissolved. "Nah. Come on." He offered her his hand and she took it, and together they ambled up towards the wheel, behind which Jack was standing, proud and upright, and grinning, his golden tooth glittering.

"Well, Captain?"

Jack gently tilted the large wheel, and the ship slowly turned towards the wind. "The least I can do is offer ye a lift," he said. "Or a place in the crew. It's not an easy life, Doc, but with yer own ship gone..."

The Doctor grinned, but it never reached his eyes. "What do you think, Donna? Donna Noble, the most cunning pirate of the Caribbean."

She punched him in the arm. "Stop it!" Granted, now that she was wet and a bit bedraggled, she felt more like a pirate than a citizen of the twenty-first century, but she certainly wouldn't be part of whatever criminal scheme they were planning, and, now that she had come to think of it, neither would the Doctor.

"A lift it is, then, Captain."

Jack nodded. "I don't claim to understand what happened, mate, but perhaps you could use this." He dug into his pocket, pulling out the compass, and threw it to the Doctor. The chain attached to the little wooded box jingled. "The cabin's below, if ye need some privacy. There should be some rum in the cabinet."

"I doubt it," murmured the Doctor, but started towards the stairs and the cabin door. "You're coming, Donna?"

"Aye," she said, and considered punching Jack when he grinned broadly, but she really wasn't in the mood.


	9. NINE

**~NINE~**

The cabin was a mess. Donna had expected nothing else, of course. There was a large table, which could have been covered in maps, but they were all on the floor now. A chair had toppled over, but the Doctor quickly pulled it upright, flopped down on it and placed his trainers on the desk. They squeaked and left a little puddle of water on the ground.

Donna sat on another chair. "What now?"

The Doctor tossed the compass from one hand to the other, his expression grave. "I can't really do anything against the Dancing Star, not without the TARDIS, and even with it... It's probably one of the last surviving members of its species, and besides, it won't do any harm to anyone."

"That's... different. And it doesn't look like it."

"That's because she's got it all wrong!"

"_She_?"

"Yeah, the Dancing Stars are all female, didn't I say? Anyway, when she arrived here, there were probably dinosaurs in the water, not many, but she wouldn't have cared back then. She was young, so very young, still needing to just grow, mature, and then, when she got older, adapt. Only, but then, the humans had come round, and they were building boats. So many boats, on all the waters and travelling from island to island, and, over the centuries, still more boats came – and that's where she got it wrong."

"How?"

"The Dancing Stars feed when they want to reproduce, and only then. They don't need much, and to maintain the natural balance of the world they've chosen, they only feed off the dominant species, the one with the most members, whatever that is. Their energy, anyway."

"But that would be humans, right?"

"Insects, more likely. Except she's so very young, and all she's known is water and the life in it; she can't imagine the billions of creatures crawling around on the land, and she has learned to ignore the life in the water during her childhood. And so, she latches on to the ships. Her body and her mind create a template, and when the day comes she will reproduce, she will start to feed of ships, anything, any part of them from which she can gain energy. The crew are just annoying objects to her, incombustible, and so, she filters them out, drops them off somewhere, and takes the ship."

"And that's what's happening? What happened to the _Pearl_?"

"Yes."

"Then why did she give it back?"

"This is a wooden ship. Hardly eatable material on board. I suppose every single drop of lantern oil and alcohol is gone, perhaps the supplies, too, depending on what they were – the things to draw energy from. It's like... the Dancing Star considers the ship to be an organism. The crew are bacteria, dangerous, and therefore removed. And then, she starts draining the lifeblood out of the ship.

"At any rate, while she was making due with the meagre meals of ships, we came along, travelling in the time stream, a ship drawing its energy from the time vortex itself. So much energy. The TARDIS fitted her template, and so, she dragged us out of the vortex, tricked the TARDIS into removing us – only the TARDIS recognised what was being done and blocked her. I made some adjustments to the TARDIS's firewall after that, but all the while, the Dancing Star was gathering strength for a full blown attack. When we were close enough, she lashed out. She couldn't break through the firewall and found no means of removing us, which checked her for a moment. But then, she discovered how she could trick us into leaving, and placed the _Pearl_, now only a corpse to her, to bait us. And it worked."

"So if Jack hadn't left the TARDIS..."

"I told him not to. But when do your humans ever listen?"

"Oi! Now you're just being unfair."

A smile flickered over the Doctor's face. "Maybe. The point still stands, though."

"What would have happened to the _Pearl_ if Jack hadn't stepped out of the TARDIS?"

"The Dancing Star would have set her adrift anywhere. She would probably have been torn apart in the next storm without anyone ever knowing about it."

"So we helped Jack to get his ship back, yeah?"

"I s'ppose."

"You're being selfish, spaceman." It wasn't as if Donna didn't want to get home, someday, but she just wouldn't wait until the Doctor had overcome his self-pity and stopped blaming Jack and instead started looking for a way to get the TARDIS back. "And eventually, the TARDIS will turn up somewhere, so all we have to do is stick with Jack, find a way to detect her when she does, and pick her up."

The Doctor's face instantly told her that she was missing something. "The _Pearl_ might have returned intact because there wasn't much energy to drain. The TARDIS, however, will be dead once the Dancing Star is done with her. All I could do is prevent her getting a functioning time machine. Once the TARDIS is returned, she will be nothing but a worthless piece of coral."

Donna couldn't think of a suitable reply. Her mum and gramps flickered through her head – she wouldn't see them again, now. Or Chiswick, for that matter – although, perhaps, some version of it existed, but the one she'd known was forever out of reach. It couldn't have been easier for the Doctor.

"So, what're we gonna do?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Get off at the next harbour, find some employment... Blimey, I'll need money! I never really bothered about money..."

"We'll stick together, though, yeah?"

"Course."

For a moment, the cabin fell silent. Donna could hear the waves against the ship's hull, a low, creaking sound whenever the masses of water impacted. She could hear the Doctor's breathing, and her own, and the rustling of his clothes as he settled deeper into the chair.

"Doctor, what is it you want most?"

The Doctor glanced at her, then pulled the compass out of his pocket. "Donna Noble. You could never except the inevitable, could you?" He tossed it to her, and Donna caught it clumsily, flipping the lid open.

"What use it is to me?"

"Don't you want to go home?" the Doctor shot back.

"I do! I just thought it would work better for you." She stared down at the needle, which was twitching and turning, until it eventually settled on a direction. "Fat lot of good that is."

"Does it show a course?" The Doctor sounded almost surprised.

"Yeah... It's zoned in on South. You know, I really fancy some pineapple juice right now."

The Doctor clearly didn't appreciate her joke. He'd jumped up from his seat and was peering cautiously over her shoulder at the tiny needle. It was shivering slightly, but definitely pointed south – until the Doctor got too close. Suddenly, the needle was in a wild frenzy, swirling there, then there, almost jumping out of its casing.

"Oi, spaceman! Get off – what did you do?"

The Doctor had backed away against the wall, keeping a good few feet between them. He looked slightly embarrassed, hands buried in his pockets, and staring down at the tip of his plimsolls. "I suppose we just have to rely on the fact that your graving for pineapple juice is not your dearest wish."

Donna looked down at the compass. The needle had returned to it's previous position. "Can't handle Time Lords, I guess?"

The Doctor's answer was cut short by a sharp knocking on the door and Gibbs peering in. "Captain thought ye should see this."

They followed the pirate on deck, where Jack still hadn't abandoned the wheel entirely, but gazing intently out towards the islands they were just leaving behind. "Have never seen something like that, Doc. Figured it might interest ye," he said, pointing ahead. "That island over there is growing."

The Doctor had instantly climbed the wooden railing, holding on to a robe, and stared into the given direction. The sun was glaringly bright in his eyes, but he could still see what Jack had meant. Out of the blue ocean, one of the islands was slowly, but steadily rising. Smooth curves of wet sand were already above the water where previously there had been only been the glittering surface of the ocean. The little group of palm trees on the island looked forlorn and lost inmidst the new masses of land shifted from the sea.

"The very heart of the Bermuda Triangle... It's started."

"Doctor..." said Donna, from the other side of the ship. In her hand, there was Jack's compass.

The Doctor jumped down onto the deck. "Let me guess – that's were the needle is pointing."

Donna nodded, uneasy.

The Doctor turned to Jack. If there was any chance, even the slightest, that he could get the TARDIS back, then he had to take it, even if it meant placing Donna and himself in terrible danger, not to speak of the two pirates. He didn't approve of ordinary pirates, of course, but then Jack was no ordinary pirate. Perhaps it had been the compass that twisted his mind, or perhaps he was just exceptional, but the Doctor had his doubts whether Jack would plunder, kill and destroy – he looked more like the type that searched for lost treasures. "Captain, might I beg use of one of your boats?"

Jack frowned, and toyed absent-mindedly with the pummel of his sword. "Ye enjoy danger, Doctor, don't ye?"

"And you like to avoid it."

"You'll never reach that island in a dinghy. I'm takin' ye." And with that, he pulled the steering wheel sharply about and the _Pearl _groaned in protest, slowly turning around.

"Thank you."


	10. TEN

**~TEN~**

As they approached the island, the Doctor kept well away from Donna. Donna wouldn't have minded his company, in fact, she would have been glad – the island had stopped rising, but there still was something deeply unnerving about that sudden large spot of land – but she knew that the Doctor was making absolutely sure that the compass did not change its mind. It didn't look likely – Donna was only glancing at it every quarter of an hour or so, and the needle didn't even twitch any more – but there must have been some reason for the Doctor to act as he did, and Donna did not go to seek him even though she missed his reassuring presence at her side.

He had been helping Gibbs – the _Pearl _had had to cross against the wind, and the additional hand had been welcome. In fact, the Doctor had proven a very fast learner and most efficient sailor. Donna supposed a ride in the TARDIS wouldn't have been so quite bumpy if he applied the same skill there, but then she had no clue how the alien spaceship worked. At any rate, she had stuck close to Jack at the wheel, who now and then threw a quick glance at the compass, of which he seemed to make more than she did – at the very least, he did not cause such an immediate irritation of the tiny needle as the Doctor.

The Time Lord was now standing at the far side of the ship, facing the island. He stood completely still, almost automatically shifting his weight with the _Pearl_, a skinny streak of alien against the Caribbean sky. Donna supposed this was the time alone he had so desperately needed before but denied himself, even though she had the impression that he was tight as a spring, ready to jump into action at any moment. She really hoped they'd get the TARDIS back. She didn't want to deal with an alien whose constant journey had suddenly been cut rudely short. She, at least, was human, and used to Earth. For the Doctor, this planet was probably as foreign as all of those they'd visited, even though he seemed to like it, for some reason, and seemed to keep coming back to it.

"Me guess is, he'll never stop runnin'," Jack said, having apparently read her thoughts.

"Why do you think he's running?"

Jack grinned. "Let's just say, deary, ye as a woman wouldn't understand, savvy?"

"Oi!" Donna punched him in the arm. "Stop it, pirate. And, for the last time, don't call me 'deary'." She glanced at the island. From her position, she only ever got glimpses of it through the heavy black masts of the _Pearl. _"You do realise it's dangerous, don't you?" She had refrained from telling Jack Sparrow that he might well lose his precious _Pearl _again in the endeavour to help the Doctor, but she had – sort of – come to like the scruffy pirate, and the least she could do was warn him when the Doctor chose not to – not really, anyway. She had seen the premonition of danger in his eyes.

Jack shrugged. "We pirates are naturally altruistic."

"Of course", she agreed, wryly, "and – that's quite a big word for someone like you."

Jack flashed her a quick grin that made the pearls in his beard tingle and his golden tooth flash in the sunlight.

"You two getting well acquainted?"

Donna actually started at the Doctor's voice. He was suddenly standing on the top step of the small staircase up to the steering wheel, and now ambled over, the compass forgotten. Donna slipped it into her pocket. There was no use in letting him see the little twitching needle that apparently upset him. If they got the TARDIS back, she'd probably ask him what it was he wanted most.

"Nah. Just telling the Captain what to do," she said, and was rewarded with a cheerful twinkle in the Doctor's eyes. He slipped his hand in hers.

"We're almost there. The waters become too shallow for the _Pearl _not far ahead. I guess we'll still need a boat, Captain."

Jack nodded. "Aye. We'll anchor her here." He waved a careless gesture at Gibbs, who apparently understood well and set about the new task.

"You are not coming with us," the Doctor said, with finality in his voice.

Donna fully expected Jack to disagree, but to her surprise, he didn't. "Aye, fair enough. We'll wait for you here, Doc."

"What happened to the pirate code?" the Doctor asked, the jest evident in his voice.

"I don't like owing people. We'll be here if you need us."

Gibbs helped them water the tiny boat with Donna already in it, and then threw a ladder over the railing for the Doctor. Once he was standing in the shifting boat he waved up and the ladder was pulled away. Donna had thrown a quick glance at the compass, but now that the Doctor was so close, it was of no use. She pocketed it and looked ahead. The island seemed suddenly further away, but that was probably just the change in perspective.

"You can row?"

The Doctor shrugged and shot her one of his manic grins. "Can't be difficult!" He took hold of the oars, and soon enough they were skipping forward through the waves.

"What do we do once we reach the island?" Donna asked.

"No idea!" the Doctor replied, cheerfully. To have something to do seemed to have done him a world of good.

"Can't you contact it – you know, telepathically? It was in your head before, wasn't it, when you collapsed in the TARDIS."

"Nah. That was just a feedback loop that bounced of the TARDIS firewall and burst through the telepathic link – anyway, it's not as simple."

"Then what?"

The Doctor shrugged, dipping the oars into the water. "We'll figure something out."

Donna frowned. "Glad you got your confidence back, spaceman." Suddenly, a wave swashed over the rim of the boat, drenching Donna's shoes – not that they really been dry after her swim in the ocean anyway. "Is it my imagination or is the sea suddenly becoming very rough?"

"Oh, stupid!" The Doctor smacked his forehead. "Stupid, stupid!"

"What is it?!"

"As soon as we reach shallow waters, we have to get off the boat." The Doctor resumed rowing, faster than before. Waves were crashing against the boat, drenching the two of them, and the swaying was starting to make Donna sick. Behind them, she could see the _Pearl_, drifting in calm waters, and Jack's spyglass reflecting the sun. He was watching them, then – perhaps they would get rescued before they drowned.

"What is this!?" Suddenly, the coin dropped. "Oh! OH! It eats boats!"

"Yes, exactly."

With a jolt, they ran aground, and the Doctor was out of the boat in a heartbeat, offering Donna his hand. She didn't bother rolling up her trousers, but stepped into the water without so much as a flinch. Of course, the water was inside her shoes in an instant, but she would take the time to get dry and comfortable once they'd gotten the TARDIS back – plus, she'd stay miles away from the pool.

The Doctor tugged at her hand. "Come on!"

Together they hurried through the water – one couldn't really call it running, even though the Doctor certainly tried. The sand was simply too sticky, and the water still ankle-deep. They hadn't gone far when a loud slurping sound caused Donna to stop dead and turn, forcing the Doctor to do the same.

Where their little boat had been resting on the beach, there was now only an abyss of swirling water. "Blimey!"

"Yeah... The Dancing Star is getting hungrier by the minute."

"We should hurry, then?"  
"Oh yes!" The Doctor grinned, and they started running again, only stopping when they reached the very peek of the island and the few sad palm trees.

There, the Doctor dug the screwdriver out of his pocket and switched it on, turning around. "Mind looking at the compass, Donna?"

She pulled the little box out of her pocket and flicked it open. "No use. It's turning around and around." She took some steps away from the Doctor, but nothing changed. "No, it's not working!"

"Oh, it is! We're on the right spot."

"Wait a sec – you're telling me we're really standing _on top _of the bloody alien?!"

"Don't swear. But yes, that's about it. Now we have to find a way – oh!" The screwdriver suddenly gave off a high-pitched whine that made Donna's teeth ache.

"What's it now?"

"Deohn'na," the Doctor cooed, fiddling with the screwdriver, then crouching down on the ground. "She'ne da reoundrai."

Donna blinked. Stared at him. Blinked again. "Come again?"

The Doctor stopped whatever he was doing to look at her. He seemed normal at least, even though his hair was sticking in all directions, even more than usual – probably due to his own bath in the ocean. "Urke'ne daie shoen?", he said, cocking his head to one side.

"Oi! This is no time for stupid games! I don't understand a word your saying, spaceman."

"Yeah – no, sorry. It's the TARDIS. That's bad." The Doctor shoved a bit of sand to the side and poked his screwdriver in the hole. "It's right below us, the TARDIS. Trapped in a subdimensional pocket, where the Dancing Star can draw it's energy undisturbed. I've disrupted some of the circuits, but most of the energy is still available – she just drained the translation circuit."

Donna crouched down beside him. "Are you telling me you were speaking a flipping alien language _all the time_?"

The Doctor frowned, distractedly. Whatever the screwdriver was telling him, it wasn't good. "Not _all the time_, Donna. How would someone who'd never travelled in the TARDIS understand me if I did? I was just thinking aloud."

"Well, don't scare me like that again. What now?"

"Argh! No, it won't let me disrupt the pocket!" The Doctor led go of the screwdriver, dropping it into the sand – it was glowing red. "Tekj'rei ne's!"

"Don't tell me: that's a curse."

For a moment, the Doctor looked embarrassed. "I keep forgetting. Never mind – the screwdriver's useless. The Dancing Star thinks we're some sort of virus, and she's fighting us off – she doesn't even recognise us as intelligent beings; we don't fit her template. If I just had the TARDIS to communicate with her..."

"Couldn't you have used the boat? It obviously fit the template."

"Nah, too small, too imprecise – would be impossible to express even..." The Doctor trailed off, some realisation dawning on his face. Then he suddenly cringed, his face contracting in pain. "No! You don't get it! Stop it!"

Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light, and when Donna could see again, the Doctor was gone. And so was the island.

* * *

**A/N: **Just to say that I made the language up - and that that is a thing I always wonder about when watching DW. And sorry for the cliffhanger. *runs and hides* Hope you're still enjoying it! **  
**


	11. ELEVEN

**~ELEVEN~**

All around her was a strange, whitish room, with no doors, no windows, not even a source of light she could see – the walls themselves seemed to glow. It smelled of seawater and salt and sand – in fact, the floor felt rather like sand, only it was utterly unmovable, and hard. Donna stood and walked over to one wall, pressing against it. It was made of the same material as the floor – in fact, the room was a perfect square. She couldn't even tell which was the right wall and which the left – or if she was in fact walking across the ceiling. She sat down – just to be safe.

"Doctor?"

Her voice echoed hollowly in the room. They really were going from bad to worse since they'd first arrived on the Caribbean beach.

"Doctor? Anyone?" She hesitated for a moment. "Dancing Star?" Hadn't the Doctor just said the alien wouldn't even recognise them as a being, just some annoying fly to be waved off? Perhaps that was exactly what had happened – they'd been smashed like an annoying bug? Or not? Donna didn't feel dead, but then she wouldn't know how that felt, anyway. She dug into her pockets and found the compass, switching it open. The tiny needle was perfectly steady, and pointing at the far corner. Donna sighed. "I really wish the Doctor was here right now."

Suddenly, there was a shrill whine, another flash of light, and at the exact point where the needle had been pointing – it wasn't now, any more, but flickering irritatingly – the Doctor knelt on the floor, his fists pressed to his temples.

"No, no, no, no, no... You've got it all wrong! We're not a threat! We're here to help, I promise! If you release my ship, I'll refuel and take your offspring to a planet where they will thrive..."

"Doctor?" Donna asked, tentatively. She was certain he wasn't talking to her, but she couldn't just sit still and watch.

The Doctor dropped his hands and turned around. "Hello, Donna." He forced a tiny smile. "All right?"

"Where are we?"

The Doctor reached out to poke the wall. "Subdimensional pocket, Dancing Star Style."

"I thought we didn't fit the template."

"We don't." The Doctor sat back onto his haunches. "She was going through the TARDIS systems one by one, salvaging from the temporal engine what she could, then the translation circuit, and then she found the telepathic link – to me, of course, and then to you, and to everyone else who has ever travelled in the TARDIS – only they are all so far away."

"Except for Jack and Gibbs."

"Yes, regrettably. They'll be in their own pocket by now – just one trip, not so well forged a link... Anyway, the Dancing Star figured we were trying to prevent her from reproducing, and so she put us out of the way; she's just protecting her children... I tried talking to her – I'm not sure she heard. The thing is, now that we're inside, I could stop her." The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver – Donna hadn't seen him picking it up again after he'd dropped it into the sand, but she supposed he could have done so during the bright flash of light – and started tossing it around in one hand. "I could stop her easily. Just one flick of this switch and her subdimensional bubbles would burst, condemning her to starvation. The TARDIS picked them up when we crashed into the ocean – little holes in the very fabric of reality, where time and space don't exist... An anomaly." He shuddered. "And the perfect cooling house for food. We could be in here for years, centuries, and nothing would ever change, unless she chooses to release us – or I'll flick the switch."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because just before we were brought here, I realised why the TARDIS was dragged off course, jumping right out of the time stream in the first place – I should have listened! But I was so caught up in ships, malfunctions and ancient aliens that I didn't even think to look! This, Donna, is a fixed point in time. The TARDIS needed to be here, always has needed and always will need to be here at this precise moment, because if she isn't, the Dancing Star will never find enough energy to reproduce in this era – and the island of Great Inagua won't ever exist."

"You're saying this alien will always be there? Turning into a real island, with a name, with more than just a few palm trees?"

"Yes... There are even people living on it in your time – and lots of flamingos." The Doctor rose and started striding around the room.

"So you're just going to do nothing? Who says, then, that we won't be here forever?"

"We could be..."

"No way!"

The Doctor flipped the screwdriver about and poked the nearest wall with it. "Maybe I can at least convince her to get Jack and Gibbs here, too."

"If you think I want to spend eternity with two stinking pirates, spaceman, you are- oh!"

Out of thin air, a figure had appeared right in front of the Doctor. She looked disturbingly like the figurehead of the _Black Pearl_ – a beautiful winged woman in a very lose dress of seemingly endless folds of fabric, leaving her shoulders naked, her hair bound into a perfect plait, and a little bird – a sparrow, perhaps? - sitting on her hand. She was translucent, a speck of curious blackness in the all too white room.

The Doctor had whirled his screwdriver around and was scanning the hovering figure, then pocketed the little device with a beaming smile. "Oh, so you did hear me! Brilliant! You are so brilliant!"

"Doctor, what is this?"

"Donna Noble, allow me to present Earth's very own Dancing Star! She took the only part of her template that fitted our image and used it to contact us – brilliant!"

"Time Lord," the Dancing Star said in a low gurgling murmur, like waves rolling onto the beach.

"Yes, that's right. Hello!" The Doctor stuck out his hand, but the figure made no move to take it, so he dropped it again. "Still analysing our speech, I suppose – come on, it isn't so difficult!"

The Dancing Star cocked her head. The bird on her hand did the same. "It is too simple."

For a moment, the Doctor gaped at her, his mouth hanging open.

"She's talking about English, is she?" Donna asked.

"No, not only... But of course – you are millions, perhaps billions of years old. We must seem like insects to you – literally!"

"Doctor. Noble."

"Donna," Donna said. "And before you ask, we're not even remotely married."

The Dancing Star did not even glance at her. Her gaze was fixed firmly on the Doctor's face. "You will help."

"I'll try," the Doctor replied, solemnly.

"There is no one else."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, but I can't allow you to freely reproduce on Earth. If the humans would ever discover... oh, the consequences for the very fabric of time would be horrendous!"

The Dancing Star shifted, and the tiny bird flapped its wings up and down. "It can't be stopped."

"I know! I know! I didn't mean now – if you release the TARDIS, I'll be able to refuel at the rift and get every single one of your children to safety – on a planet where there is enough food and enough space, and they can freely reproduce as they did so long ago. But you have to stop draining the TARDIS now!"

"Before the war."

For a moment, the Doctor wasn't sure what she was referring to, but then it dawned to him. His lips pressed together into a thin line out of their own accord. "Yes. I'm sorry."

"Jack Sparrow," the figure murmured. The little bird flapped in her hand as if trying to take off.

"Oh, so you did collect him, too! Yes, he's... Well, he's the owner of that other ship. The _Pearl_. _The_ _Black Pearl_, she's called. You're her. Sort of. Anyway, he's not important."

"But without Jack, she wouldn't be her, would she?" Donna interjected. "If she modelled this image out of the _Pearl_, she wouldn't be here if we hadn't run into Jack."

"Yes, maybe – okay, probably – okay, quite likely, but you have to do something about the TARDIS _now_, before it's too late... what are you called?"

The Dancing Star regarded him in silence.

"Oh well, I suppose _Pearl _will do – anyway, Pearl, how about it? I give you my promise I will take your children to safety. Cross my hearts?"

But, much to the Doctor's concern, the Dancing Star had ceased to focus on him. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the little bird, which jumped up and down on her palm, and then, suddenly, took flight, swirling right past the Doctor and Donna, and disappearing into thin air.

And, just as suddenly, Jack and Gibbs stood in the room with them.

They had been in an intense conversation, apparently, Jack with his back to them. Gibbs had been caught mid-sentence, and was now staring wide-eyed at the translucent figure. "Bleedin' hell! Jack!"

Captain Sparrow turned around. Donna could see in his expression that he had no difficulties identifying the form the Dancing Star had taken. He nodded nonchalantly to the Doctor and Donna, then approached the figure without fear. "Hullo."

"Jack Sparrow", she answered, her voice gurgling like a gentle mountain stream.

"Aye."

"What's she, a ghost?" Gibbs demanded, but the Doctor just gave a harsh wave with his hand, silencing him. He wasn't quite sure exactly what was happening, but if he understood the Dancing Star at all – which was, frankly, horrendously complicated even for the mind of a Time Lord – this might just be the only chance they had.

"Jack, you've got to convince her to let the TARDIS go. That's the only chance we have of getting out of here – and it's the only chance she has."

If Jack heard, he didn't show it. He had reached out, trying to touch the floating figure with the tip of his fingers.

She didn't waver or float away, even as Jack froze in his motion, his fingertips just inches away from the slightly lighter coloured skin of her arm. "I have a question to put to you, Jack Sparrow," she said.

Jack started, as if jerking out of a trance. "Aye, me lass."

"Trust?"

"Whom, the Doc? Aye. He found the _Pearl_." Then, as if by chance, Jack's finger brushed against her skin and the Dancing Star suddenly seized his forearm in her grip. There was a brilliant flash of light, and then she was gone.

And so was the subdimensional bubble. Instead, they were standing on the beach of the island/alien, right next to the TARDIS. Night had fallen, but Donna could just glimpse the _Pearl_, anchoring safely just outside the shallows.


	12. TWELVE

**A/N: **Just a short one, and just one more chapter to go. Hope you enjoyed it!

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**~TWELVE~**

"Hello, old girl", cooed the Doctor, stroking the blue wood of his TARDIS gently. "How are you?" The ship hummed under his palm, and he smiled, before whirling around to face Jack. "You, Captain Sparrow, are the most amazing human I've met in a long time! Well done!"

Jack, if he had heard him at all, shrugged the compliment off with a slight twitch of his shoulders. He was staring at his forearm, bare now, where the Dancing Star had grasped him.

"Wasn't he brilliant?!" the Doctor beamed, nudging Donna. "Give the man a hug, Donna! He just saved us all!"

Donna wasn't particularly fond of hugging a bad smelling pirate, and she hadn't quite grasped what exactly had happened, but she gave the stunned Jack a tentative pat on the back. "Oi, what's your problem, pirate? I'm hugging you!"

Jack hadn't moved. "'pologies, Miss Noble. This is quite extraordinary." He presented her his forearm. The black lines of his tattoo – a sparrow in flight – was clearly visible against his skin and the even lighter brand mark of the pirate 'P'. It was beautifully placed just above the wrist on the soft web of veins only just visible through tanned skin.

"Well, what is it? It's just your tattoo."

The Doctor came ambling over. "What is it?"  
"I have never decided to allow anyone t' tattoo me, on such a spot! D'ye think I want 'im cutting my wrist for me money?"

"Hmm." The Doctor ran his index finger over the black lines, but Jack wrenched his wrist back. "I s'ppose Pearl left a mark. It's nothing to worry about, Captain. In fact, it rather suits you, don't you think?" The Doctor grinned up at the pirate, and Jack just grunted and pulled his shirt back over his forearm.

"But in the films-", Donna began to protest, then shut her mouth again. It was probably not very wise to talk of yet more future technology with pirates who'd already seen the TARDIS.

The Doctor took her by the elbow and let her a few steps away. "It's possible they got the chronology messed up. After all, it's all sort of timey-wimey-just-by-chance-chance, anyway."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "That a technical term?"

The Doctor beamed. "Course it is. Oh, look at the that!"

The ocean just off the shore where they were standing was suddenly illuminated by hundreds of bright specks of light, little globes breaking through the surface and whirling skywards all around them, flickering through the palm trees, over the TARDIS and around the _Pearl_'s masts.

"Ooooh", the Doctor exclaimed, as if he were watching fireworks. "That is beautiful. Isn't that beautiful, Donna?"

"Are those her children?"

"Yes, they are. And aren't they just the most brilliant little stars?"

For a while, they just stood there on the Caribbean beach, a salty smelling breeze swirling around them, and on the breeze the children of the Dancing Star, outshining even the stars in the sky.

After what seemed to Donna like a couple of minutes, but was probably over and hour, the Doctor slipped away from her side and the TARDIS took off. She never saw the spaceship in the night, but one by one, the little Dancing Stars disappeared, where gathered up by the Doctor and brought to safety. There were still a couple of them left when the TARDIS's engine roared again at their side and the Doctor stepped out, smiling.

"Thought I'd better drop you two off on the _Pearl_," he said to the two pirates, who had sat watching the spectacle on the beach, a flask of something alcoholic passing between them. Of course, Jack was eager to get back to his ship, and Gibbs did, after some hesitation, follow him again into the strange ship that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

"You're coming, Donna?"

"Yeah." Donna slowly walked towards the TARDIS. "All refuelled?"

"Yes, we're ready to go!"

"What about them?" She pointed at the remaining dots of light, which seemed to concentrate themselves around the _Black Pearl_.

"Oh, I just thought you might enjoy a bit of show... I'll pick them up when we've dropped Jack and Gibbs off, if you don't mind staying on the _Pearl _for a bit."

"Can't I come?"

"Nah, it's nothing interesting. Just a planet with lots of water, where they can't cause any mischief. Besides, I've created a temporal pocket to allow them to grow up undisturbed, and it's a bumpy ride, crossing lots of timestreams – I'll better do it on my own."

"If you think so." Donna would have been slightly disappointed, but she suspected that the Doctor was looking for some time alone with his TARDIS, and she wouldn't be the one to hinder him. She wondered if there was some sort of female figurehead hidden in the time machine, just as in Jack's ship, but she supposed she'd never know. With a last glance at the island-alien, she stepped over the threshold and pulled the door shut.


	13. THIRTEEN

**A/N: There we go, final chapter. I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you did, I'd love to hear from you in the reviews! :)**

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**~THIRTEEN~**

They were slowly turning away from the island, veering towards the sunset. Jack had his hands firmly clasped around the steering wheel as if he would never let go again, and the Doctor was leaning casually against the TARDIS, looking back at the island. "You know, they'll even have a beach called 'Jack Bay'."

"Coincidence, I s'posse, Doc."

The Doctor ran a hand over his neck. "Probably, yeah."

Jack grinned crookedly and flicked open the compass to get his bearings. "I'm gonna find meself a crew, and then I'll go after the beauty."

"It was the least I could do," the Doctor said, with a shrug.

"Treasure ship sunk right off the coast of yer alien. 'm not complainin'."

Donna opened the TARDIS door and stuck her head out. "You're coming, Doctor?" She had changed, finally, and washed the salt out of her hair, but now she couldn't wait to get away. She really had had enough of white beaches and water and sunlight for the moment.

"'Course. Don't you want to say good-bye to Jack?"

Donna gave a small wave at the pirate. "No offence, mate, but I'm not hugging _you_ again."

Jack flashed his golden tooth. "Good luck, me lass – Miss Noble! Wind in your sails, Doctor."

"Oh, now you're just being cliché." The Doctor shook Jack's hand before he stepped into the TARDIS, throwing his beloved brown coat over the next corral pillar and sauntering up to the console.

Donna threw one last glance at the _Pearl _and her captain before she turned around, closed the door and followed the Doctor up to the console. "When I get to go to the cinema in, say, 2014, will I get to see Jack Sparrow looking for this treasure ship-"

"The _Santa Rose_."

"– this _Santa Rose_?"

The Doctor leant back against the leather seats, hands buried in his pockets. "I wouldn't know. Shall we go and find out?"

"Nah, don't need a time machine for that. Just drop me off in time to see my folks and I'll go on my own, yeah?"

"Well, where do you want to go then, deary?"

Donna considered punching him, but instead just grinned. "I could do with some relaxing... Real sunbathing would be great – no alien-islands, and no ships, though."

The Doctor hummed. "I could take you to the most famous leisure palace of the twenty-fifth century. The planet's called Midnight – and it's made of sapphires!" He flicked a few switches and the TARDIS engine begun to rise and fall. "You really have to see the sunset in that place – although, of course, you can't go outside, but they have huge glass domes..."

...~oOo~...

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

– Charles Beard

...~oOo~...


End file.
